Hey Pretty Girl
by DarkAngelsShadow
Summary: Hey pretty girl wont you give this hunter a chance? Caryl song fic. Was once part of Devouring spirits hunger but the sigh took it down working on revising them. Sorry if you have already read this.


For those of you who are reading this for the first time I hope that you enjoy it. Sorry if you have already read this the sigh gave a warning take down the song fics or loose my account. non the less I am working at rewriting them. This song has been in my head and I think it fits Daryl and the way he comes to look upon carol. Hope ya enjoy it.

**Disclaimer** I don't own AMC's The Walking Dead or any of its characters, wishful hopen aside. Nor do I own or make any sort of profit from kip moores hey pretty girl.

* * *

**"Hey Pretty Girl"**

Daryl Dixon was a man of action and very little words. He was a hunter that believed that if you could see it and if you could feel it then it must be real. There for in his world magic did exist. Magic could always be found in the world, especially one that was slowly dying away, the old world that he had known was built around a darkness, a darkness full of science and technology that had seemed to had sprung up overnight. Like the moon chaises away the light of the day Daryl now felt as if someone was now pulling a hood off from over his head. It had been a hood cast there by the ever developing world of science. As science took all in its pathway and deprived the land of its magic an evil curse fell upon the land.

It was a ghostly hand that was removing that dark hood that had been hiding away Daryl's eye sight. Ever since his brother had left the plain of the living Daryl had been hiding all of his emotions behind that black veil. He had fallen into despair and he knew that his spirit was losing its light. He could feel the light slipping away the most when he was locked behind the prison walls. The stifling cement walls were closing in on him. The many new faces made his skin crawl in what he thought of as his own home.

That morning while Daryl was out on his usual morning hunt, he felt a change in the air around him. Now Daryl was used to feeling many different things out in the woods most of the emotions being tied to freedom, but that morning had been different. There was a magical charge in the air, the kind that often brought change along with it. That change had come over him slowly and with a sense of familiarity. For it had started out with a recognizable spirit that belonged to non-other than the woman who had given life to him, his mother. She wanted the veil to be lifted from her baby boy's eyes. He had always been her sweet one, and she knew that unless she did something to help him along he would never see the heart of the very woman that he was coming to care for. The woman that was meant to be more to him than just a friend… Daryl returned from his hunt empty handed that morning only to head to the watch tower for his turn on guard duty.

Daryl was a man who believed in magic. Magic was something he had never felt but he had seen it, he was seeing it right now out the window of the guard tower as he watched her down there in the yard as she captivated the children with her laughter and the twinkling voice behind her smile. She was a child at heart and she was always able to joke around with all who were near to her. Lifting the children's hopes with a kind word and a gentle touch she was always there to make them feel better and safer.

Carol was out in the yard of the prison in the early evening of summer. She had her group of children around her as she explained to them the best ways to avoid attracting the eyes of a walker. She was explaining to them how Glen and Rick had once covered their bodies with the remains of a walker in order to make their way safely threw the herd that at the time was keeping them from making it back to their salvation. She enjoyed her time spent teaching the younger generation and he often found her relaxing in their presence. Laughter and smiles come easily to her as Daryl watched over Carol and her class of young ones.

Who could deny magic when there was still the beauty in her smile and music in her laughter? Anyone who had ever looked upon a woman and fallen in love had to believe in magic. Daryl felt it would take the very essence of magic to make the woman he had been watching over for some time now to see herself as he saw her.

**_"Hey pretty girl won't yer look my way. There's love on the air tonight_**_ gotta make sure yer alright, yer all that keeps me movin' from day to night." _Daryl's eyes were being hidden by his hair as he stood there as her silent protector leaning over the guard rail of the watch tower while smoking a cigarette. He knew that staring was wrong, but he couldn't help but to cast his eyes upon Carol. "**_You can bet you make this ol' boy's day, _**_seeing you makes me feel alive._ **_Hey pretty girl, won't you look my way, _**_just once woman look at me**, **see me."_

From the very moment Carol had stepped outside with her group of children into the early evenings cool breeze she felt it. A breeze that they often enjoyed most nights after the sun had beaten down on them all day. Twilight was the only time they could safely be outside the walls of the prison, but tonight's early evening air still held a charge of magic on it a change following behind it. Carol brought her group out into the prison yard as early twilight was falling upon the surround land. Dipping her head back and taking a slow deep breath into her lungs Carol felt a change surrounding her.

The change in the air had yet to reveal if it was going to be a good omen or a bad one. For the only changes to have happened in the world recently had been the dead. A bad omen that had been roaming the world for over 2 years now, that was spreading like a wild flower and still growing in numbers.

Right before the sunset was the safest time to bring her young charges out into the ever changing world. She knew Daryl would be on watch and she always felt safer under his watchful eyes. She wondered if he too could sense the change that was upon the wind as his eyes where bearing down upon her. Always searching and watching letting her know that he was near. Carol looked down at her young ones and had them sit down to join her as she explained to them the best way to keep calm and quiet. She gave small group classes like these often now to teach the younger generation how to keep their heads about them while facing down a herd of walkers. She knew that the young ones where growing up in a world full of uncharted changes. Even now Carol could feel the earth moving and growing under her body where she sat and she could smell it upon the air. Many more heart stopping moments where waiting for them right around the corner.

* * *

The date for Glen's and Maggie's wedding was finally upon them. They had decided on an old fashioned wedding to be held out in the court yard of the prison. Surrounded by their new friends and the group of people they considered family. It had been a joyous occasion to see the couple that where so in love finally be united as man and wife under the light of the setting sun. Their group had needed something to help lift their spirits for a while now and this binding of two souls had done the trick on this night.

Daryl was standing there outside around the perimeter of the wedding party keeping watch as the newly wedded couple as they took their first dance as man and wife. He wasn't about to let anything happen to the very people he looked upon every day with a growing fondness that gave off the vibes of family. Ever since he had lost his brother Daryl could feel the bonding lines of family coming together and strengthening him. He was forever casting his eyes around the perimeter of the party but he couldn't seem to figure out why his eyes where often lingering upon Carol.**_ "Hey pretty girl, can I have this dance and the next one after that," _**His subconscious was trying to tell him something but he just wasn't ready yet to listen. The ties that bonded Carol to him where beginning to form something new. Something of the unknown a joining Daryl had never felt before and he was nervous about the way it was making him look at her, keeping an eye on her. He could sense it as the two of them seemed to be growing and strengthening their trust in each other.

Daryl took note while catching a glimpse of the sun's last lingering light seemed to settle around her encasing Carol in its warmth. The light of the moon was joining with its lover the sun and Daryl was taking in their combined light as they bounced off her natural beauty. Their shared time in the sky gave birth to a more radiance light that shined forth, as if they too could feel the very essence of magic that seemed to be dancing along the surface of the surrounding air. Daryl knew he felt something more than just a family tie to Carol. Every time they touched his body would take on a tingling sensation that ran often throughout his body. Even something as simple as a feather light touch as they met hands in passing made him feel more alive these days. Daryl always had an instinct to look for Carol first no matter what room he came into. With a nod of their heads everything would be right in his world. "**_Gonna make you mine there's a real good chance."_**

Daryl watched her even now as she stood off to the side in that knee length white summer dress Maggie had found for her to wear as one of her bridesmaids. The sun and the moon's combining light were bouncing off her very presence as she twirled out there on that make shift dance floor. He watched her as a few of the males in attendance would approach her and ask for her hand to dance.

Daryl could feel his temper rising as he watched the other men get braver. Something he didn't have much in this life was bravery. Sure he could face hordes of walkers with a grin on his face, and he was never frightened of being out in the woods like many of the others where. But he Daryl Dixon didn't have the first clue on how to present himself to a woman like her, his Carol.

Now He's been with cheap gals and he'd been with woman with very low standards of themselves, but he had never been with a woman who could make his heart stop beating one moment and race like a galloping horse the next. The kind of woman he would have brought home to his mama and slept on the couch for. The one type of woman he could have never imagined for his future. For Daryl had always thought he would of been on his own. That look in her eyes when they met across a room or in passing had him thinking of a different kind of future though.

As he stood there watching them male roosters or as he liked to refer to them as dicks… try and sneak up behind her and attempt to sweep her up into their arms before she would shake her head no in denying them and look his way. Daryl's anger was building up to the point he just might do something he had never done before and just go right up and grab her, maybe just maybe that was what had been in that bit of magic that had been around them in the air. A bit of magic telling him he'd best hurry it up along and take a grasp of the woman who would fit into his future, or he would be letting his chances slip right on by.

Carol knew his eyes where growing angrier as he watched one would be suitor after another approach her asking for a chance at her dance card. She would smile and decline as politely as she could only to walk away and look Daryl's way. Her eye's where lingering upon him as he turned back her way. Carol knew as a woman that wanted a man that she shouldn't be openly staring at him, but her heart just wouldn't allow her to pull her eyes away. His eyes captivated her but what really got to her the most, was the way his soul, the very essence of his spirit would wrap its self around her encasing her in a blanket of warmth and protection. Carol had led a broken life, she hadn't been touch very often in this life by a kind hand, and the only soul to have ever loved her truly was lost to her. That was why she couldn't help but stare at the hunter as she felt a new bond slowly start to form between them.

Daryl kept his eyes on her watching as she allowed the beat of the music to travel in vibrations up threw the earth. she stood there on the summers dying grass bare footed allowing the music to take control of her body and its movement as she got lost in this new rhythm of life that was surrounding her. He could swear that the combination of the lights surrounding her was making an aura of brilliance shine from off of the surface of her skin. The more she felt the music the brighter her aura of light glowed beckoning him to her. He felt like a moth attracted to the light of a flame as he made to take a step towards her but the voice of his brother made an intrusion upon his mind.

"All them years of tryen to make a man out of you and ya fall for a damn pixie. Well what cha waiten for Darlene you gonna allow them rooster to continue to roost and surround your woman? You best get goin' and fetchen' your pixie of a woman, boy you best get moven' you always where the sweet one after all baby brotha." Daryl could hear the fading voice of his brother as he finally allowed his anger to out rule his damn fear of his pride being kicked in the ass. He stocked up to Carol giving the men around her an evil look that if he could kill with a look he would of surely taken a few lives.

"Woman, I don't know how to dance, but if you'd be willen' to teach me I'll give it half a chance. **_Hey pretty girl, can I have this dance._**" Daryl let the words speak volumes for what he really wanted to say to her. As he wrapped an arm around her waist and his eyes delved into the door ways of her soul hoping and wishing she would reach the message there hidden away in his own eyes.

"As long as you're willing to put your hand in mine, I'll let you hold it for the rest of time." Carol gently pulls Daryl out onto the dance floor and proceeds to dance in his arms for the rest of that night. Who ever said that you can't teach an old wolf a new trick sure was wrong. Carol managed to teach Daryl a few things down on that dance floor that night.

Daryl had danced a few songs along with her before sweeping her away in to the eastern guard tower where he allowed his body armor to fall from his body and shatter upon the ground. As he stood there with her wrapped up in his arms, he had no plans for where the future would take them but he knew he wanted her there in his arms for however long the great spirit saw fit for her to be there. "**_Hey pretty girl, it feels so right_**. **_Just like it's meant to be." _**_He silently thought to himself._

Carol had seen so many emotions built up in him over that two year time that the only way he could express how he felt was to let her feel his emotions there in his arms. Dixon's had never been known for being gentle or for being the type of men that knew how to make love to a woman. But, Carol swore that night that love was the magic in the air. For magic is what she felt standing there**_ all wrapped up in his arms so tight_**. Magic existed, for who were they to doubt it, when their two auras combined in an array of colors. Carol let out a sigh of contentment and apprehension. "You know starting something like this will complicate things for all of us."

Daryl turned her body around in order to have her facing him, "Maybe I'm just tired of this damn life and always maken things so fucken simple for others, maybe you didn't know that when a hunter has his eyes set on his prize he claims it." Bending his head down to place a loving kiss upon her lips, taking his time in the hopes of not screwing things up, all the while the words "**_Hey pretty girl, it feels so right," _**_dance throughout his head._

"And maybe just maybe his woman can't help but want him to." Her eyes met his and they knew in their hearts and in the deepest parts of their souls that this night and the magic of love forming around them was meant to be that it had been sent there not only for Glen and Maggie but also for them.

He felt her body melting into his becoming pliant as he instantly felt his mind slip into greed. No rational thoughts entered his mind as he grabbed her up and laid her out on the floor of the guard tower. He was afraid as a sharp arrow sent hunger and pain threw out his body. He never wanted to cause the woman under him an ounce of pain so he knew he would have to pull on every last string inside of him to take this slowly, gently the way a Dixon had never taken his chosen before. Daryl knew nothing but blissful peace after the joining of their bodies and souls. He knew that for two souls to come together like his and Carols had done they often had to go through hell on earth to find their other half, and he had found his in her. Carol had come to be thankful that her soul mate was in the body of Daryl Dixon her hunter her provider and her protector. The man who she had found lost in the same darkness as she had been lost in for years. She was a true believer that someday when he left this world she would be right there by his side, for without him, Heaven would be a Hell, and with him, even Hell would be Heaven. As he took her that night to new heights and they traveled down a new road built up of new and unknown dreams.

* * *

The new road they were on wasn't paved out before them. It had many dark and light passages along it with twisting turns with new hidden dangers and surprises laid out along it. It was turning out to be a road well-traveled on for the both of them. Carol knew that while on this new journey they were on a new destinations where waiting for the both of them. They were two souls with a troubled past, and to make it along this path it was going to be a journey built on trust. Trust that would need to flow like the current of a stream, gentle and never unkind, that**_ life was a long and winding rode, she'd_** **_better have the right one by her side._** Because **_happiness didn't drag its feet _**and **_time sure was moving faster than _**she thought. New things where awaiting for them both to learn, mainly about each other and they had to build on their strengths and knock down built up walls around their weaknesses.

It had been a few months and the time had swept away from him so quickly while being lost in her presence. Daryl knew that taking her hand that night would be taking and grasping a new life for himself. She had stood there by his side silently ever since reaching out to him. Teaching him all she had to give. He was quickly learning from her what it meant to have the right one by your side. For every day he would do his every day demands that the group had for him with her on his mind, wishing she was glued there by his side. But knowing the man in him would never allow such a thing no matter how much his soul wished it. He wasn't a man to show open affection but he made sure to express his feelings for her when they were alone. Daryl quickly made his way into their shared cell knowing that happiness and time didn't wait for no one and it sure as hell don't drag its feet. His happiness now and days lingered there behind the blanket hiding the inside of their cell. He made his way inside behind those bars he swore he'd never sleep behind, to see her there asleep on his bed. "Hey pretty girl, sorry I didn't make it on time to tuck you in." He whispered into her neck as he bent over to place a light kiss upon it. Time was moving faster than he thought was possible as he lazed there beside her and watched her sleep. Thanking the Great Spirit from up above for sending her right along.

Daryl knew that the prison wasn't no more than a few miles from where his mama's spirit had been put to rest. Back at what was once his family home. His mama was the only other woman who had ever shown any form of interest in caring for him. He had told the others that he and Carol needed a damn brake and he was going to grab her up and take her with him rather they fucken' liked it or not. Daryl wasn't playen' around he had had enough of the crowded prison and walking the encroaching walls. He knew she needed a break and that was wearing him down just as much as it was her. When it came to their family, the living and the ones who has passed he wanted to show them what he had was more than just a plaything to toy with. No he had decided to show that his life was growing fast in bounds and leaps with Carol.

Daryl made his way outside and met up with Carol as she was sitting there beneath his watch tower with her group of girls in the dying grass. He bowed his head and waited for her to finish up her class, tonight she was giving the girls a lesson on the stars and how to allow them to be their guiding light while lost out in the dark world at night. "Don't forget the big dipper will always be your guide to the North Star, may it always help you find your way home." Carol told her girls as she dismissed them and watched them run off along their way.

She made to stand up as Daryl grasped her hand, "yer mine for tonight pretty girl, where going for a ride, just me and you and the stars shining light.**_ Hey pretty girl, wanna take you home, my_** **_mama's gonna love ya_**." Daryl told Carol as he pulled her along to his awaiting bike. Resting there at the closed gates with his saddle bags full of a change of clothes his bike was running being held up by Rick who was waiting to open the gates. "Keep each other safe stay low and for gods sakes make it back." Rick told the two of them before they rode out the gate. Daryl yelled back at him as the two of them made their way down the dirt road. "I keep watch of my own." Carol's face lit up in the brightest smile Rick had ever seen as he watched them drive away. _Bout damn time, bout time this world had a bit of good in it._

They drove on for what seemed like only minutes to Carol as she watched the trees race right on by. She quickly got lost in the feeling of him in her arms as she was holding on tight. Often looking up at the tree tops as they seemed to wave them on bye as Daryl took them to a place he called home. She knew his mama had passed on and how he was going to introduce the two of them she wasn't quite sure. As they drove along Daryl was hoping that Carol wouldn't have any negative feelings for the places she would be finding herself in tonight. He was taking her home, a home that had been shattered and would be burnt to the ground tonight after he retrieved a few items from the house hidden beneath the worn out wooden floors.

Carol took in the sight of the house in front of her as Daryl made a slow descent to a stop at the end of a gravel drive way. There in front of her looked to be what once had been a house, but was now nothing more than a beaten down shack. More than just time and nature had reaped havoc upon the dwelling. Carol could feel the darkened aura that hung around it, as her body gave a shiver to more than the cool night air. "Home sweet fucken' home, it aint safe in there you wait here, won't be no more than a minute." Daryl swung his leg over the bike and held his crossbow in hand as he made his way inside the dark hollowed home.

Carol didn't know what emotions where rolling off of him as he made his way into that place, but she was sure that when they left here she'd make sure he left it, he would let its evilness lay there and watch it burn. Before she knew it she could smell gas on the air and she watched as Daryl stood there on the porch with a small wooden box under one arm and a match in one hand as he lit his cigarette between his lips he threw the lit match behind him as he walked calmly down the stairs. She watched as the years rolled right off of him as he made his way over to her. Daryl made his way up to Carol raising one arm into the air and flipping the burning house off. His body and aura growing in strength as he made it closer to her side and farther away from the growing fire, he walked right up to her and pulled that cigarette from his lips and kissed her for all he was worth pouring his every thought and his very being behind that one kiss that made the ground rise up from under her. Next thing she remembered was him handing her that wooden box and sliding back onto the bike. Sitting there with her wrapped up in his arms for a moment. His body turned to hers as he opened the box in her hands and pulled out something silver that glinted in the moons pale light and he slid it onto his ring finger.

Daryl met Carol's eyes and smiled, A sad smile and a nod of his head was the only explanation he gave her before he turned around facing the front of the bike. Daryl kick started up his bike and once again they found themselves on the road as the sun was making its way up into the cloudless sky. Not before too long Carol was starting to recognize her surroundings. She could have sworn Daryl was taken them back to the Greene's farm, back to where they had laid her sweet baby girl Sophia to rest.

As they journeyed closer she knew he was taking her back to that awful place back where she had found the body of her lost daughter. Back to where bad memories laid out along the road like a scar upon her body that never faded no matter how much time had seemed to pass. _Is he trying to hurt me why would you bring me back here Daryl? Pullen up bad memories of my inability's to protect my own child? Why would he do this to me? Am I nothing more than a prized catch to you?_

Carol's mind seemed to get lost in a world of wonder and her thoughts where getting lost in a foot of sadness just like her baby girl was buried under a foot of soil, she felt as if her mind was drifting down further into that old familiar darkness. Daryl roiled his bike down the familiar dirt road. _Don't hate me for this Carol I know I'm nothin' more than a red neck but it's something that needs doing something that gots to be done. Just hope yer understanding and won't hate me woman. _He silently hoped she would understand once he explained it to her.

Daryl brought his bike to a stop right beside the familiar lake on the Greene's family farm. Growing there beside the dick of the lake was a familiar bush of Cherokee roses. Daryl got up off the bike giving Carol a quick glance, making out the look of pain in her sad smile. "Be just a moment won't take me long woman."

Daryl told Carol as he made his way up to the roses and grabbed up a handful of the flowers in bloom there. Daryl made his way back over to her and handed her the bunch of flowers without saying a word to carol he swung his leg back over his bike. "Hang on woman, almost there," Daryl told Carol looking over his shoulder as he drove threw the yard over to where he now felt his mama's soul was resting.

"Thought you would be here mama, always had a soft spot for kids in your heart didn't cha." Carol overheard him whisper out into the night wind as he brought the bike to a stop there underneath the trees that stood as a marker for where her sweet baby girl was laid to rest. Carol got up and off of the bike once Daryl brought it to a stop. Making her way over to her lost child's grave, tightly grasped in her hands are the Cherokee roses and the wooden box. Holding back the tears that brought pain to her eyes and into her heart Carol knelt there on the ground. Memories floating back into her memory of a walker child stepping out into the garish light of day. A walker child her child, Carol sat down there beside Sophia's graves and placed a Cherokee rose down on it.

Daryl watches Carol as he turns of the bike and makes his way over to her. "A rose for every memory we could have made together." A tear slid down his woman's cheek as she speaks to her daughter, he bends over and takes a flower from her hand as he sit down there beside her. Wrapping an arm around her in a show of comfort he brings Carol closer to his side where he can feel her melting into him.

Daryl digs a small hole along the top of the grave and places his mama's medicine bag into it. The bag is the symbol she always told him would forever keep her soul guarded and whole. Covering the roots and the sacred items of his mama up with Sophia's made his spirit feel at rest. _Mama I know your there, I really did try to be more than just a red neck hick. I ain't proud of a lot of shit I've done. I know I've burned a lot of bridges in my past and for me my sins are a dime a dozen, but I'm tryen to do right._

"A Cherokee Rose for the woman taken from me by an abusive asshole of the man that dared to call himself my father. **_She would have made me sleep on the couch,_** if I had ever brought you home. When she was still here, in the flesh, alive that's just the kinda woman my mama was**_._** That's why I brought you with me tonight and why I brought you here. My mama's spirit is here now with Phia. She'll watch over her in the summer lands and guard her, love her the way I didn't get the chance to in this life." Daryl held Carol as the two of them sat there and thought over everything that had happened to the two of them so far in this life and Daryl got to thinking of where he wanted for the road to lead him. **_Hey pretty girl, wanna take you home,_** best get back before Rick send out a damn search part for us."

* * *

Things had been getting out of hand at the prison. Someone was trying to sabotage all the hard work the group had been doing. The walkers had somehow been let into cell block D and a number of their group had been lost. The decisions and choices came up to split the group up. Spread out and make a new head way on this road of life. Daryl had gone out with a small group of his family and friends almost didn't make it back to Carol. They had gone out scouting for a new piece of land to build themselves a new home. One that with hopes of withstanding the growing threat of the hordes of undead, that where growing larger each day as they came to outnumber the living.

They had barely came out alive as they journeyed to the meeting place on the way there Daryl had found an abandoned set of houses that was built up behind a wall of concrete stone. This stone wall was one that Daryl had never seen in life before besides in book that had pictures. It reminded him of a damn fairy tell castle the way this wall was built up with a look of old world fashions to it. Daryl just couldn't help thinking, **_hey pretty girl, let's build some dreams_** **_and a house on a piece of land _**_how nice the thought of it would be to finally have a place to call home**.**_

Cherokee Roses lined the perimeter of the wall their vines creeping up and over the wall. The smell from the roses is what had led Daryl to finding the place. The hidden structure secured all the way around with only one main opening would keep the inner homes safe from outside forces. The grounds inside was built up with a few cottages and they were surrounded by another moat that would have been used for what seemed to be a form of water irrigation.

Even now he was standing close to Carol as he told the group about his find. How the wall was strong and secured and how the land on the inside of the walls could be used to plant some fruiting trees for there were already apple trees just waiting for the plucking. How there was already homes built up and plenty of room for building up more. The group had decided that this was the best chance they had of making it threw out the remaining summer and with fall and winter quickly on its way they needed a safe haven where they could plant some roots.

As Daryl laid there on the floor in bed that night watchen Carol as she slept he couldn't help but speak his thoughts out loud. "Hey pretty girl, I still got a few more dances with the devil been cleanin' up my act, little by little I'm getting there, I've still got some demons that need pining to the ground but I'm better then I once was so how would you like to teach me on how to **_plant some roots_**,**_ and some more apple trees._**  
**_Hey pretty girl, let's build some dreams_** I know now that you're my better fucken' half and I'd follow you anywhere, just gotta show this old fool of a man the right direction."

Carol stood there in amazement as she took in the scene in front of her. Daryl had told her just a moment ago that he cared for her more than he had ever cared about another person. He was quickly learning that with this hard road in life that was laid out before them and that you had to grab up every bit of happiness that you could.** Life's a long and winding ride.** That was why he had told her in the shortest sentence he could and even few words that she was surely his and that he loved her.

Time had been moving faster for the two of them then they thought possible, summer had come and gone. With the summer passing with the warmth of the wind leaving them and a chill hanging in the air, they found that so was their doubts. They were both learning to love once more. They were learning together that there was more in this world then just the death that was surrounded them. That life was worth liven for when you had the right one by your side.

They had found a new place to call home. The group had come together and dug a moat as deep into the ground as a man-made lake would allow them to around the concrete wall. The moat was an old world touch that they had found to be very useful when it came to the hordes of undead. It now provide there growing homes and thriving lush land with a preliminary line of defense.

"Hey pretty girl, found ya a castle on a bit of land to call our own. You can plant one of those gardens in the back, maybe be able to settle down here plant us some roots. Would ya like that woman?" Daryl asked her one night as he held her after a long day of finishing up the digging of dirt that would form the watery mote around the surrounding walls.

"I'd be proud to plant some roots here with you Daryl, as long as you are by my side." She hadn't known it then but he had known deep down in his gut that this would be the place that they would make all their own. He could feel the spirit of his mama and Sophia surrounding the lands incasing them in their spirits magic. Maybe I'll give ya some more grandbabies mama, would ya like that Phia? Would ya want a brother or a sister?

Time moves quickly when you're always on your feet and you have responsibility's that must come before you can truly start to live your life. The months flew by on the wind like the ocean waves often met the sand in a never ending dance. Carol was standing outside in the snow. It didn't happen to snow a whole lot in Georgia but it sure did up in the Appalachian Mountains. The home that Daryl had found for them was once going to be a resort that sat on the Great Smokey mountain range. Where the national forest supplied plenty of wild life where they had been able to catch a great number of animals in which they had plans on breeding. The high mountain altitude supplied the land with plenty of snow melted rivers where they got their supply of fresh water and the catching of fish was plentiful during the right seasons.

Carol had never been happier in her life as she stood there in the snow and looked out over the land she had quickly called home and built ties to. Before she knew it the moon was high up into the sky she'd been standing there for over an hour now. She hadn't noticed the change in time till she felt the presence behind her. Daryl made his way up to his woman wrapping an arm around her as he bent his head down to place a kiss along the hollow of her neck. "What cha been thinking about my pretty girl, woman while you been out here in the cold for hours?"

"Life and how I didn't really start living it till you took up my hand." Leaning back into his touch she tells him as her spirit melts into him.

Removing one of his arms from around her waist he pulls a leather cord from around his neck, the black leather cord has a small delicate silver ring at the end of it. A black opal sitting there the size of it no bigger than a small pebble was the perfect size for her and in her mind it was the prettiest stone she had ever seen.** "Better have the right one by your side and happiness doesn't drag its feet** boy you better claim her." Daryl could hear his mama's voice in his ears.

"Your mama and mine aren't here so I can't do this the right way you deserve to have it done. I can't bring them a deer's hindquarter or a sack of corn. There ain't no medicine man we can go and consult to ask for his blessings, but I sure did ask Hershel and Rick and they gave me their consent. Carol you've taught me what life is worth liven for, now I aint ever gonna be one of them men who can show his affections out in the open for all to see, but I'll show ya behind them closed in walls that your maken me the man I wanna see when I look in a damn mirror. What I'm tryen to ask ya is if you'll stay with me, wear my gram's ring, let me be a part of you as you have surely been made a part of me? Know I still have a few old bad habits left a few things I haven't tackled yet but if it's alright woman I'd like to make ya my mate"

* * *

Winter snow that had frozen the earth and sent chills down their spines melted away and spring brought new life in to the world he was living in. Daryl never thought of himself as being a man that could ever be a father. He never had an example of how a man is supposed to raise his child. He didn't know what could of frightened him more the fact that he was now a father or that there was form of warning before the little bundle in his arms showed up into his world.

He'd been with carol that first time in the mid of summer and now here in spring he was holding a bit of the magic that had been lingering in the air that summer in his arms. He knew it was meant to be, it was his mama's and Merles way of telling him that life would go on. That the never ending circle of the moon and the sun dancing upon that big old sky would forever continue to dance their dance of magic and weave their love kissed spells along the land. So to fall upon soul mates like him and Carol and bless them with the chance of breathing new life into the dying world around them.

His miracle was lying there asleep in his arms his baby girl Azaleaine Hyalei Dixon. Carol had decided upon that name with him, for their baby girl was his saving grace that would teach him fragile passions of being a father and she had been born in a beautiful meadow.

Carol hadn't shown any signs of being pregnant not a single one, so you could imagine his surprise when he came back from that mornings hunting trip to find his mate curled up into herself while she was out picking herbs growing there in the meadow.

Azaleaine awoke stretching her little limbs out in his arms as she opened her baby blue eyes and looked up at her father. Daryl walked his flower into the cabin he shared with his woman and presented their daughter to her.

"**Hey pretty girl you did so fucken' good** woman, **our baby's got your eyes. **You know she's got **a fighters heart** **just like I knew** any child of ours would she'd have ta, to be sent into this world. Carol, woman I don't know the right words to say, but you can bet I'll be showen ya I love you woman. For as long as time will be on my side I stand by you, walk with you always. I'm gonna make mistakes that's a damn given, I aint no perfect man but for the two of you I sure can try." Looken down at the baby lying there in her arms Daryl gives his daughter his finger and she grasps it in her small tight grip.

"Hey pretty little girl can we give this a try, raise you up the best I can? I'm never gonna get things just right but I'm your daddy from here on out tonight." Daryl bent over looken into his daughter's eyes, "I promise my little one I'll be forever on your side."

Looking up into Carol's eyes and all the emotions swirling around behind the blue depths, Daryl leans down resting his head on hers. **Hey pretty girl, you did so good. Carol, thank you baby."**

As Daryl bends over to place their daughter into her arms Carol looks him deeply in the eyes. "Smile with me threw the tears dance with me in the rain, live threw the struggles and love us unconditionally. Our Love will be like water, it flows natural, sometimes it's calm, and sometimes it's gonna be rough, but you just gotta let it happen and let yourself go with it. Daryl, just love us it's all we'll ever need just your love. "

* * *

The changing seasons of their lives came and went. Daryl was a man who had started out on a rough harsh journey in his life to finding his saving grace in a woman who did nothing more than love him. They had many years together watching as their baby girl grew her wings and took flight. They were truly blessed when she had been brought into their world. Daryl was always a proud man but watching as his flower grew right in front of his eyes, made him come to understand to realize that in this life there are demons, there is hate and pain, but there was also beauty and the magic. Daryl had found it in his wife that night many years ago that had sealed their spirits together and helped them along the way in making their daughter. She was his heart and her mama was still the prettiest girl he had laid his old eyes on. She was his very soul the essence he had been missing before the world had fallen apart.

He laid there on his bed with his woman wrapped up in his arms. It was another beautiful spring night and the meadows soft lavender scents where drifting into their bedroom. Daryl knew that sooner or later the summer lands would start calling for him. He'd been seeing his mama's spirit lately calling to him with Phia and Merle there by her side. He wasn't quite ready to go yet not without his other half be his side.

"Woman are ya awake?" She answered him by turning around in his arms and placing a loven kiss upon his bare chest.

"I gotta have ya listen to me for a moment before you drift away into rest. **Hey pretty girl, when I see the light** **and it's my time to go."** Daryl lifted his hand brushing away the curling hair that had fallen into Carol's eyes. He wanted to see the blue of her eyes, the oceans depth he had fallen in love with all those years ago.

**I'm gonna thank the Lord for a real good life a pretty little girl and a beautiful wife**." Daryl pulled Carol into his warmth as she gave him a lingering kiss they both knew that their time was a coming to an end here on this realm. They would be taking their next steps together into the unknown. When two spirits meet up and they become one, their souls unite in a twin flame and no man made power could ever destroy the magic that was in such a bond. For when the gods come together and deem two souls bound they are never to be parted. That's how they were found that morning bound together and it's how they were placed into the fire and released back into the very air that had united them as one.

Many years down the road when the walkers where no longer a major threat and the human race were making a new start out on their feet. Where the land was once more flourishing in richness and the animals roamed free and aplenty. A pretty little girl could be seen running threw out a beautiful meadow. There was a little boy dressed as a hunter giving chaise running there right along beside her. "Wait up for me Carlene," the little boy could be heard shouting throughout the meadow. "Hurry up Hunter I aint gonna wait for you forever already did that once, don't cha remember." The little girl had stopped running and placed her hands on her hips and gave a nod of her head.

"Course I do, we are soul mates aint we?" The little boy known as hunter came up to her with his bow in his hands, reaching out for one of the little girls hands.

"Of course we are my protector." The little miss took his hand smiling up at him.

"I'll always find ya, my pretty little girl. Tag this time your it."

* * *

Hope that you enjoyed. Thank you for taking the time and reading it. oxox Tula


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